1. Field
This disclosure generally relates to texture blending of 3D models.
2. Background
A geographic information system (GIS) is a system that can be used for storing, retrieving, manipulating, and displaying a three-dimensional model. The three-dimensional model may include satellite images texture mapped to terrain, such as mountains, valleys, and canyons. The GIS uses a virtual camera to navigate through a three-dimensional environment. The virtual camera defines what portion of a three-dimensional model to display to a user in a display area.
A client device may display the three-dimensional model in a geographic information environment. The three-dimensional model may have any number of level-of-detail (LOD) representations that may be displayed in the geographic information environment. Accounting for an LOD of a three-dimensional model may increase or decrease the complexity of a three-dimensional model as a virtual camera moves closer to or farther from the model.
Texture is applied to a surface of the three-dimensional model to give the three-dimensional model a more realistic appearance. When the textures for the three-dimensional model are composited by switching among a plurality of source images, any illumination and exposure differences among the source images will lead to unnatural color discontinuities in the textured three-dimensional model at the decision boundaries.